War Crimes Trials  Historical Film Footage

War crimes trial of Vidkun Quisling

Oslo, Norway, August-September 1945

[English, 0:51]

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 National Archives - Film

Transcript

Into a police court in Oslo, Norway, comes Vidkun Quisling to plead for his life. One of the war's most notorious traitors faces retribution for his crimes, as the judge enters, and the first preliminary trial of a major war criminal begins. [music] Quisling, who made his name synonymous with "traitor" in his betrayal of Norway to the Nazis, hears the case against him. Once arrogant and ruthless, now he shows signs of fear. In a world free from Nazism, there is no place for Vidkun Quisling.

In Norway in the 1930s, Vidkun Quisling founded a pro-Nazi party called the Fascist National Union Party. When Germany invaded Norway in 1940, Quisling attempted a pro-German coup against the government. He headed a pro-German administration from 1942 to 1945. His betrayal of Norway to Germany has made his name into a label for all collaborators and traitors. After World War II, Norwegian authorities arrested Quisling, and tried and convicted him on charges of treason. He received a death sentence.